Marie HoepflAssociate Editor

For the past 21 years, the Editorial Board of the Journal of Industrial Teacher Education has rewarded excellence in writing through its Outstanding Manuscript Awards program. Each year an awards task force, consisting of current or former Journal editors and officers of NAITTE, is assembled to independently review all refereed manuscripts published in that year's volume of the Journal. Members of the task force first determine whether a manuscript merits an award, then rank order the selected manuscripts. Individual rankings are combined to determine the winners in each award category. The Awards Task Force for Volume 36 consisted of Dr. Paul Brauchle, Illinois State University; Dr. Michael Dyrenfurth, Iowa State University; Dr. Scott Johnson, University of Illinois; Dr. John Scott, The University of Georgia; and Dr. Sam Stern, Oregon State University. The Editorial Board of the Journal of Industrial Teacher Education extends warm thanks to these individuals for their contributions to the awards program and for their continued service to NAITTE and the profession.

The Outstanding Manuscript Awards are presented to authors of refereed manuscripts that fall into one of three categories: research, conceptual, or dissertation. The outstanding research manuscript is selected from data-based articles that are not developed from a dissertation or thesis. The outstanding research manuscript for Volume 36 was co-authored by Peter Kuchinke, University of Illinois, James M. Brown, University of Minnesota, and Howie Anderson and Joseph Hobson, both of Pine Technical College in Minnesota. Their article, Assessing Training Needs of Manufacturing Employees in Rural Minnesota: A Model and Results, describes a training needs assessment model that was developed with a group of five small, family-run manufacturing organizations in Minnesota. Through a combination of measures, the researchers examined employer expectations for training, employees' skill needs, and employees' motivation for, and concerns about, training. Analysis of this data led to a better understanding of how to structure and assess training programs for the participating businesses. These findings also carried implications for curriculum development at the technical college and high schools whose graduates might work in the organizations studied.

The outstanding conceptual manuscript award is chosen from philosophical, historical, curricular, or expository pieces. The outstanding conceptual manuscript for Volume 36 was written by Theodore Lewis, University of Minnesota, Stephen Petrina, University of British Columbia, and Anne Marie Hill, Queens University. Their article, entitled Problem Posing - Adding a Creative Increment to Technological Problem Solving, first challenges the effectiveness of the "technological method" being applied in many technology classrooms today. The authors build a theoretical framework that supports the need for problem finding, which is often neglected within the technology education literature. More specifically, they propose that allowing students to engage in problem posing can lead to greater creativity and a deeper engagement with the problem. The article concludes with the suggestion that classroom management and instructional planning strategies must change to enable a more effective use of problem solving, including problem posing.

The outstanding dissertation manuscript award is selected from articles that report on a thesis or dissertation. Articles in the dissertation category cannot be co-authored. The outstanding dissertation manuscript for Volume 36 was written by Dennis W. Field, Iowa State University. Dr. Field received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University, under the supervision of John C. Dugger. His study, Comparison of Applied Mathematics Skill Levels for Students Enrolled in Applied Versus Traditional Courses at Secondary Schools, examined intact groups of students who had completed either traditional Algebra or Applied Mathematics I courses, and their performance on the Work Keys Applied Mathematics test. Contrary to prior studies, Field found that Applied Mathematics students did not perform as well as those who took traditional Algebra courses. These findings suggest the need for continued examination of applied academic courses, and raise concerns about the types of measures used to compare the effectiveness of applied versus traditional courses.

Outstanding Manuscript Award recipients were recognized at the NAITTE breakfast meeting at the Association for Career and Technical Education Annual Conference in December 1999, where they were given plaques commemorating their achievements. Once again, the JITE Editorial Board and the NAITTE organization congratulate the award recipients for Volume 36!